Echos
by Vera Kate
Summary: The immediate aftermath of the finale. Elena deals with her emotions of her choices, of what she saw.


**A/N:** This is for **Lenka Fifty Shades Lover **by request! I hope you all enjoy and review!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the TV show _Bitten_ or _Women of the Otherworld_ book series that it was based on.

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She didn't know when she stopped screaming. It seemed as though she would never stop.

She did though. She couldn't scream anymore. Her throat was raw. Her body ached. Everything from the day was catching up with her now.

Her arms ached, her legs, her torso, even her hands, they all had their own special aches and pains.

Her heart did too.

She thought they had made it out. They had all made it out, or at least she hoped. No one really knew about Logan. She hoped that he would call when he found Rachel and they were settled somewhere. She'd like to see the baby when he was born. Maybe they would find a way to convince Jeremy that things needed to change. The Pack couldn't exist as an static creation of time if they wanted to ensure that it survived. Hadn't Logan said that things had changed once she was in the picture? Wasn't it worth seeing if she could change his mind?

She had gone upstairs, her boots going up the stairs she had been going up and down for years but there was a new sensation to them now. Before, even when she was happy, she still viewed this place as a sort of prison. She had been taken here and wasn't allowed to leave. Well, she left but she was brought back each time like a scolded puppy. Or when she left on Jeremy's tasking, there was always an invisible cord tying her down. Clay frequently found excuses to be nearby and Jeremy had his phone calls.

It was different now. She was walking towards her future. She had fought for her future and now she was going to cement it by doing something so small, so seemingly routine and mundane that it didn't seem as though it should be significant at all.

Clay wore his. Toronto was the first time she had ever seen him take it off except for Changes. It seemed to simply be a part of him, a simple band of metal, something that gave a clear message about him. It remained there even when she didn't.

She had been so happy then, back when he first proposed. It was a whirlwind. Months of pure bliss, exhilarating emotions, it all culminated with a proposal and a promise to meet his family, to meet Stonehaven.

It all went so bad, so fast.

She shook her head, no, she wasn't going down that road right now, not this moment when she cemented her decision as to what life she was going to live. She was going to live as Elena, _all_ of Elena. She wasn't going to push part of her to the side, shoved in a dark corner of her mind that she took out only on occasion out of necessity. No, she was going to revel and enjoy her entire being.

She walked over to the mirror, to see what she looked like with _it_ on.

She remembered how she looked then, when it was all brand new.

She was a completely different person now, some by others' choices, but this was _her_'s.

And right when she looked in the mirror to see her future, she saw it – no, _him_.

She screamed then. She screamed from a place deep inside her. If she hadn't been so exhausted, so wiped out, it would be considered rage. She wasn't sure what part of her was screaming but it was so deep that it _hurt_.

She wasn't sure who took her out of the room. She wasn't sure what they had done with _him_.

She was numb.

"Elena? Elena, talk to me darlin'," someone said. She instinctively looked towards the voice, it was calling to her, and her brain recognized it as a comforting source.

Clayton.

She had told Philip that if this was anther life that she would chose him in an instant and be blissfully happy. But this was her life now and Clay was responsible for changing her fate years ago.

"I … what did you do with him?"

Clay licked his lips. "Jeremy took him. He'll take care of it," he whispered, pressing his lips against her forehead.

She heard footsteps and looked up. Nick.

"Oh Elena …" he trailed off, looking guilty. "I thought we … I thought we had it all under control. We tried though. I sent out my best to make sure that he was safe."

"Who," Elena snarled.

"What?"

"Who did you send out," Elena asked impatiently.

"Jorge. He handles all of that type stuff," Nick quickly explained.

Elena exploded up, launching herself at Nick, pinning him against the wall. She glared at him, her face contorted in anger.

"You didn't personally do it?"

"I … How could I? I was here, fighting _with you_. I can't be in two places at once," he gasped, looking over at Clay for help.

Clay put a hand on Elena's shoulder and gently pulled back. She let him pull her back slightly and she released Nick from her grip.

She eyed him and Nick did not like it.

"This will be seen too," he assured her.

"Call him. Check on the rest of Philip's family. Make sure that they're okay."

Nick hurried from the room.

Elena looked back to the bed. She could still see him there. She could smell him.

"We'll get to the bottom of this, you know that."

"They will pay for this."

She finally averted her gaze. The room - her room - suddenly felt unbearably hot. She left without a word, Clay trailing at her heels.

"I can't go back in there," she said to no one in particular as she walked down the hallway. "I need some air."

She led them outside, quickly sidestepping pieces of broken glass and wood along the way.

She had left Philip to protect him. To protect him from the others, this life, _her_, and it all was for nothing.

She had meant what she said. If she didn't have this life, she would have happily spent the rest of her life with him.

Now he didn't have any life and it was because of his involvement with her.

"I don't understand," she turned on Clay. "Daniel was _here_. The rest of the mutts were all _here_. Who did this? Who … put him there? I … did they stalk the hospital? Did they leave someone behind in Toronto?"

"I don't know," Clay admitted softly.

"And why don't you" she screamed at him. She was angry at him. He was supposed to protect them all.

When did that include Philip?

She sat on the grass and let her head fall into her hands. Clay tentatively sat beside her.

"Nick is already working on contacting Jorge. We don't need to start jumping at theories until we hear the facts of what he had in place to protect him."

Jeremy came out onto the lawn. He surveyed the damage slowly and shook his head.

Nick came out a few moments later but his face was clouded.

"I couldn't get a hold of him, I'm sorry Elena. I'll keep trying but he's not answering his phone."

"There's no need for that, Nick," Jeremy said, clapping a hand on his shoulder, bringing in the younger werewolf to his side. "I believe I know what happened."

"You do," Elena asked.

"We've been lulled into a false sense of security these past few months. The rumor was that my father was dead, killed in a fight or brawl or something along those lines. And … we bought it because I wanted to believe it. He's not. He was the one that Santos answered too. He was the one who put all of this together. This … all of this is too many pieces for Santos to keep spinning in place. I should have realized that."

Elena bit her lip. Clay started to move to grab her hand but pulled back at the last second.

"So what do we do," she huskily asked.

"He will try again, I have no doubt about that. He said as much earlier - "

"_What_," Clay hissed. "You mean that he was in this house and you didn't call me?"

Jeremy gave a small smile to Clay.

"He knew he had lost. He wasn't a threat to me. Believe me, if I had any inkling that he would have made an attempt on my life, you would have heard me."

"Malcolm is always a threat."

"I know," Jeremy replied. "But what we must do now is rebuild," he said looking at the debris in the yard. "We have to rebuild and heal. We can't go after him based on emotion. We have to prepare ourselves. This is a war that we cannot lose."

Elena watched him. She wanted to accept his words. Jeremy always had the most soothing way of putting things. Her heart ached too much.

"What about Philip?"

"Malcolm has many crimes and atrocities he has to answer for. Philip is on that list, have no doubt," Jeremy replied.

Jeremy guided Nick to the side of the house where they started looking at the destroyed windows, leaving Clay and Elena sitting on the lawn.

"You can go and help Jeremy if you want," she managed to choke out.

He brushed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "I'm not going anywhere."

She nodded and sighed. She let him pull her close to him. She could hear his beating heart, it's steady comforting rhythm.

She would make sure that Malcolm paid.


End file.
